COVID-19 cure drug dilemma?

It’s not over yet? Confirmed COVID-19 cases are nearing the ’10-million mark’ and is still continuing…

“The pandemic is accelerating. The world is in a new and dangerous phase. Many people are understandably fed up with being at home. Countries are understandably eager to open up their societies and economies. But the virus is still spreading fast, it’s still deadly, and most people are still susceptible,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization (WHO) director general at the media briefing on COVID-19. “As the pandemic gathers pace, it’s the most vulnerable who will suffer the most. All countries rich and poor have populations who are vulnerable to a higher risk of severe disease and death,” he added.

Worldwide efforts are being made to discover a drug to treat Covid-19. In the absence of vaccines and complete treatments, some approved drugs - hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir, dexamethasone and favipiravir - are already being used as early COVID-19 treatments drugs. Companies in different countries have launched these drugs’ generic versions for treatment in specific cases of Covid-19.

The United Kingdom (UK) has authorised the use of steroid-based dexamethasone, which has reportedly proven to reduce the risk of death among severely ill patients. WHO has welcomed the initial clinical trial results from the UK that show dexamethasone can be lifesaving for patients who are critically ill with COVID-19. According to preliminary findings shared with WHO, for patients on ventilators, the treatment was shown to reduce mortality by about one third, and for patients requiring only oxygen, mortality was cut by about one fifth.. The benefit was only seen in patients seriously ill with COVID-19, and was not observed in patients with milder disease.

The US approved remdesivir drug for treatment of COVID-19. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted authorization to use the antiviral drug to treat patients with COVID-19. Earlier in March, the FDA approved for the anti-malaria drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, but later revoked it after some studies reportedly showed that they’re unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19.

In India, hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, had been earlier used for the treatment and was being reportedly exported to other countries. But, its efficacy against Covid-19, as a ‘prophylactic drug’, is now being tested.

Another antiviral drug, favipiravir, has reportedly shown clinical improvement in mild to moderate Covid-19 cases and is being recommended for COVID-19 treatments. Reportedly, it was originally manufactured by a Japanese chemical company.

With ongoing clinical drug trials and testing, a panacea to COVID-19 is hopeful.

- - Singh Rakesh Ranjan, Freelance Journalist